


Day of the Living

by Grain_Crain



Series: Whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Reminiscing, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 16:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21079835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grain_Crain/pseuds/Grain_Crain
Summary: Day 14 - Tear-stained. Amaru and Goyo talks about their family moment.





	Day of the Living

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of Whumptober challenge this year and I thought of posting this on the  
[main Whumptober 2019 collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20891378/navigate), but this is a fairly long for a ficlet and I'm damn proud of how this turned out to be. Therefore it's posted as a standalone fic!

“Hey, _chiquito_,” Amaru lands a slap on her daydreaming nephew’s stomach, “Are you going back for _Día de Muertos_ this year?”

Goyo gasps and sharply inhales at the surprise attack, “Maybe if I don’t choke on-” He coughs because of a spit that went the wrong way, “On myself. Why ask?”

“Nothing. Just reminded me of that rare time when you were mischievous.” 

He stares at her in contemplation and then buries his face as he realises what she’s talking about, “Oh no, not that.” 

“Yes, that.” Amaru rubs on his shoulder as she laughs fondly. Thus they take a trip to the memory lane, all the way back to nineteen years ago.

* * *

It was a year after the tragedy that struck his family. Even the usual uplifting spirit that comes with the celebration of _Día de Muertos _couldn’t cheer twelve year old César and his mother up. The other extended families were to visit César’s house on the day, so Azucena in her late twenties came a week prior to help out. 

Three nights before the 31st of October, César’s mother Sofia broke into panic. 

“Where is it? Where did they go?” She dropped baskets of marigolds and trembled.

Azucena rushed in as she saw Sofia crumpled on the floor, “What happened?” She held those hands that turned cold due to sheer panic.

“The photos!” Sofia didn’t need to explain further because the _ofrenda_ (altar) was missing its centrepieces. Two frames that had the photos her dead husband and daughter were missing as if they disappeared into thin air. 

“Did they fall behind? Or maybe you moved it while cleaning around.” Azucena lifted up the clothes to look under and swept the whole kitchen area. 

“I’ve no idea. I just can’t- Oh I can’t afford to lose them! They are the best that we have.” Sofia’s voice quivered and soon sniffled. She muttered about whether to cancel the offering and contact the family, or rummage through what’s left of their belongings that didn’t burn from the explosion. They hardly had any since their home crashed into pieces, and yet Sofia clung tight on Azucena’s shirt in desperation.

“It’s okay, calm down,” Azucena lifted up the crying mother by her shoulders and walked over to the bedroom, “Have a little rest while I look for it.”

“Will you be able to find it? Please I beg of you.”

“Come on. I do this for a living!” Azucena gave her a small grin, “If I don’t find it, there’s always a family photo that you sent to my family when César was born.” Thankfully it was in her bag that she used to keep in her camping area while on expeditions. After losing copious amounts of wallets, she learned the lesson to keep valuables away from adventures.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Sofia’s whisper lingered as Azucena left the room. Her first search was to find César, as that boy could help her by crawling into small spaces. She didn’t need to call out for him since his usual spot to hangout was a tall tree that stood next to their front fence.

“César! We’re on a treasure hunt, _chiquito_.”

“Okay,” He peeked behind the heavy book that hid his entire upper torso, “Where are we going this time?” There’s an excitement brimming around those brown eyes.

“Just around here. We need to find your dad’s and sister’s photos.”

“Oh,” He faltered but quickly picked himself up, “What happened to them?”

“Don’t know. Just gone like that,” Azucena shrugged, “But it’s really important to all of us, as you know. Will you help me out?”

“Yeah, sure. Let me put my book away.” César nodded and dashed back into the house but tripped on pavements that were easy to avoid. He fell again while rushing upstairs, to which raised an eyebrow from Azucena as she noticed the change of demeanor from him when those photos were mentioned. 

Did she go after him? No. She had built up a set of skills that comes in handy for climbing and ambush, so that’s what she did. That allowed her to witness César laying flat on his stomach while head and arms buried under his bed. As he wriggled out, there was a bundle of blanket that he unveiled to reveal the frames that had gone missing. 

Was it a good time to burst the window open and call him out on such act that put his mother into misery? Absolutely not. That’s what she thought until he took the photos out from the frame, stared at it and began to grip them in his fingertips as if he was about to rip them, “César, stop!” It couldn’t be helped. Azucena had to kick the window open to leap in. To this day she’s still thankful of César who kept his hands steady despite her jump scare of an entrance.

“_Tia_!” He gulped and coughed uncontrollably, “Why- How-”

“What are you doing? Do you have any idea what you were about to do?”

“I- I just,” He kneeled on the spot, “I wasn’t going to do it. I thought about it but I didn’t mean to." 

"César!” There was a surge of rage boiling inside of her, ready to interrogate on the excuses behind his misconduct. She snatched the photo away from him to check whether they were unharmed. The photos themselves were slightly cockled, but she became distracted by those smiling faces that were encapsulated in vivid colour films. They were there, looking up at her with those eyes that had been watching their family after death. Even if she was to blame a young boy for his actions, these two would still smile at them while staying unflinched for eternity. 

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it would be this bad. I’m sorry.” The way he used fists to rub his eyes gave Azucena a chest ache. What was she doing with a child who needs a support rather than anything else?

With a heavy sigh that unloaded weights under her ribcage, she sat and pulled him in for a hug, “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to make you feel like this. Is it okay if I ask why you took the pictures?”

“I, uh-” César collected his breath, “I just wanted to hold them in my bed but cried too much before I fell asleep. So it got messy with my snots and tears, and I really wanted to dry it before the family comes by,” He picked on the cuticles on his fingers, “But then I thought if we don’t have the pictures on the _ofrenda_, we don’t have to do the whole offering at all.”

“I see. Don’t you like _Día de Muertos_?”

“I do, but it’s not fun without daddy and my sister,” César wiped falling tears, “I don’t feel like being happy when they aren’t around. It’s weird because everybody is happy for _Día de Muertos _but I just don’t want it. I wanna cry without celebrating it.”

“I don’t think that’s weird. It’s perfectly normal to feel like that.” Azucena held him tight.

“You really think so? But I see mum crying too and people say that I shouldn’t cry since I’m a man.”

Rage resurfaces and it wasn’t directed at her nephew this time, “Whoever said that is a huge idiot. They don’t know what they are talking about!”

“So that old man by the shop is an idiot?” César recounted the incident where he cried home after school.

“Especially that man. Where is his shop again? I need to visit and buy some sweets.” Confectionaries to put on his roof so flies and bees are invited.

“I’m not telling you because you are making that face again. The evil face.” He let out a soft chuckle and that put Azucena at ease. 

“Did I make that face when I got mad at you just then?”

“No. You looked scared,” The fact that they both scared each other dawned on him, “I’ve never seen you look like that. Was I scarier than those smugglers you fought against?”

“Worse. You were about to destroy the most precious treasure of all. The one and only of a kind,” Azucena held the pictures with utmost care and slid them back in the screenless frames, “This thing needs a proper protection. They couldn’t stand a chance against a smart boy like you.”

“You don’t need to be smart to cry.” He mumbled bashfully.

“Oh yes! It takes courage and wisdom to know when to cry. To let yourself be sad when you want to be sad. Some people find it hard to do and you’ve done it all by yourself," Azucena talked about how some grown ups needs therapists when it comes to mourning because they lie themselves into the next stage despite not being ready, "You need to let it all out because life is a long journey. Telling yourself that you don’t feel sad is like carrying a big water tank that needs to be emptied from time to time. Imagine walking for ninety years with something so heavy on your back!”

“Then won’t I cry at all if I cry it all out now?” César seemed hopeful in getting rid of his pain.

“No. The thing is that you are guaranteed to feel sad again in the future, for whatever reasons it may be. So you just gotta cry when it fills back up,” She ruffled his hair, “And that’s why we have _Día de Muertos_. It helps when we are all together as a family. We’re all here to enjoy our time together and help you to feel happy after a good cry. You just let us know and we come for you.”

César finally let his body relax in her arms, “That sounds much better. I didn’t know we can do that." 

"Now you know.” Azucena gave him one last squeeze before they go downstairs to return the photos.

“_Tia_.” César pulled by her shirt, “Did you cry for your father as well?”

“Of course. Mine’s all dried up though,” She tapped on her good luck charm that’s in the shape of an explorer’s old compass, “So I guess I will suck all yours in. Give me your sadness or else!” She lunged in for a tickle, to which César reacted almost instantly on a series of laughter.

“Hey, not fair! They are all mine.” César giggled until he formed tears in the corner of his eyes.

“Ah-ha! I see it!” Her fingers dug into his armpit and neck. That’s how they spent the entire afternoon which brought a subtle grin on Sofia’s lips.

* * *

“And I got told off for breaking your window.” Amaru ends the reminiscence.

“She told me off too for taking the pictures without a word,” Goyo added, “So that’s an even score.”

“Look at you. Smart mouthing me and all.”

“I learned it from the best.” He hands her a cup that has their favourite tea to have while camping out.

“Damn right.” She takes a sip and leans back, cherishing the years they spent together. She couldn’t help but to feel proud of the little boy she once knew is now a renowned specialist who has achieved so many, and will attain greater accomplishments without her guidance eventually. That’ll be the inevitable sadness which she is confident that he’ll overcome.


End file.
